instead of closing those two work rooms in completely, why not just have end walls and have them open to the floor, that would eliminate two doors and 14 feet of wall, and i wouldnt have your bathroom open to the shop along with a door to the outside,

My intention of closed off rooms is to keep dust and noise out the main work area. I will be displaying some nostalgia things in the main area, so I want to keep that as clean as I can. The east work room will be where I can do the real dirty work (or clean, if I am painting).

Great looking plan. Just remember ,It won't be big enough. When I built my shop I poured the slab then had a brick layer build a cinder block wall 3 blocks high which = 2 feet,then build on top with standard studs and you have a 10 foot ceiling. This keeps the wood off the ground for washing out shop with pressure washer and doesn't soak bottom plate, also fights termites.

I hope it is big enough. I had to cut it off somewhere. I do have an attached 2 car garage on the house already.
Good idea on the walls. I'll discuss this with my builder.

i have a dircect lift 7000lb pro park model comes with casters and everything to move it around very easily with a car on it but 10' is definately not enough if i remember correct the lowest part of my ceiling is 10'6" where the lift is and it you get a larger lift and pick up a truck it wouldn't make it. if your having trusses made the can make a taller section in the middle or somewhere so you can roll the lift into that area if you need more height

Have you considered a retractable wall for the main bays? It would never hurt to be able to open up the floor if you needed to. I hope you are not offended , but I re-worked your plan a little bit. The dotted line between the bays represents the retractable or partitian wall. The wall between the main bays has been moved to the west 1 bay to seperate the main floor from the other rooms. I also opened up the bay doors to about 10'wide.
I know you have your design well thought out , I was just throwin out ideers. When you have your trusses built , keep overhead storage in mind as an option.I see lots of good wasted space up there all the time.
Edit:
Just thought of this. Have you considered an in floor pit for easy oil changes , etc? It's not the solution to everything under the car , but may be an alternative to a lift in some situations. You could also use "cathedral" or vaulted trusses in the garage area to improve headroom for a lift.

Great looking shop idea, man. I wish I had the space and means to build me one (my .49 acre ain't gonna cut it).

As far as your shop becoming too small- you could always come off the back side, or east side, with a closed in area for parts storage or something. With just a lean-to roof.

I like the plan. The only thing I might alter is the door to the east bay. I'd just make it bigger- in case you wanna move larger parts from the "clean" bay to the other side of the shop, without opening the big roll up door.

If you're not putting in a lift and are going with lower ceilings, have you considered adding a second storey? I know it doesn't jive with the design, but it's something I regreted not doing when I built my garage at my old place.

Roger...you may want to reconsider the size of the garage doors. 8 foot wide is not really wide enough. I have 9 footers on mine and a few times I wish they were at least 10'. I would not go with less than 9' though. My nephew was going to pull his truck in which was a dually and it was close. And figure on a 9' door, the opening is less than that by the time you get the jamb and seal trim up. We We backed his truck in but had to stop when we got to the mirrors. It would not make it. Also on a few occasions I had to back my car trailer in. It was an extra wide. I had 2" on each side of the fenders. It made it in but takes quite a bit of time trying to line everything up just right. So before you finalize your plans you may want to measure a few things that you may be putting thru the doors or anything you may be building that would come back out thru the doors. Kind of like building a boat in the basement only to find you can't get it out. LOL!!!

Have you considered a retractable wall for the main bays? It would never hurt to be able to open up the floor if you needed to. I hope you are not offended , but I re-worked your plan a little bit.

Just thought of this. Have you considered an in floor pit for easy oil changes , etc? It's not the solution to everything under the car , but may be an alternative to a lift in some situations. You could also use "cathedral" or vaulted trusses in the garage area to improve headroom for a lift.

No offense what-so-ever. I am really enjoying reading everyone's opinions and ideas and have already decided to do some of the things suggested.
Yes, I thought of a retractable wall but decided that the permanent wall was the way to go for me. I do want to keep the west bay open to the main area as this is where I will do general mechanical work (not the dust making kind) and the rest of the time storage for my '69 Corvette. I also figured that the wall between the bathroom door and blaster room door would be perfect for a flat screen TV.
Also, I planned on putting in good retractable attic stairs and utilize attic space for storage like you said.
And yes, I had thought about a pit and lift quite a bit. I am really used to putting a car up on 4 heavy duty jack stands as that is the way I have done it all my life. However, if I ever got a lift, I think I would get the Kwiklift portable. The 10 ft. ceilings would not be an issue for this lift. I really can't see me ever wanting a high lift.
Thanks for your input!

Roger...you may want to reconsider the size of the garage doors. 8 foot wide is not really wide enough.
Kevin

Kevin, thanks to you and the others that have mentioned this.
I have changed my plans to 9ft wide doors. My original posting of the plans are now updated so you can see what it looks like.
You may have to hit refresh on you browser for the updated .jpgs to show.

If you're not putting in a lift and are going with lower ceilings, have you considered adding a second storey? I know it doesn't jive with the design, but it's something I regreted not doing when I built my garage at my old place.

Ah yes. But, I did it on my house attached garage that was just completed.

The following picture shows the back of my house. The garage and the apartment above are a new addition. The concrete patio, patio cover, hardie siding and metal roof are also all new. (Still needs paint and driveway)

And just an fyi, the house did have detached garage when I bought it, but it is not in very good shape. It will be knocked down in order for me to build the new shop.

roger how's the old knee's and back doing? trust me the quicklift is nice if thats what you can fit but you will be kicking yourself for not putting in a higher ceiling in one area. my 4 post lift brand new and delivered was about $2000. not much more then a quicklift and i originally had bought a 2 post 9000lb lift but found it was a pain to use to stack cars for storage but that lift only cost me a grand used and installed. the trusses can easily be made that way and you wouldn't even notice the loss of storage area above it. never thought i would want a rotisserie till i bought one $850 lbs makes working on the car a whole lot more fun .quick example - i wanted to clean the bottom of the car before i disassembled it flip it 90 degrees took out the old pressure washer and blasted off 90% of all the junk wouldn't have been much fun laying on my back with a torch and scraper again trying to get off all the undercoat

A Coke machine and a couple of rocking chairs on that cool looking front porch. Oh, and maybe a few vintage looking product signs to give it that old timey look. That's a great looking shop, I'm jealous.
Dan

I must agree with Cboy with the radiant floor heat 100 % I did my floor last year this time in the shoe box shop I have ,the heating system works great ! No cold feet and clean with no fear of combustibles to worry about as with infra red heaters . I found a Quiteside QVM9 wall mount set up for LPG @ the curb ( a 4000 dollar uint), I put 300' of pex tubing in the 7"+ floor , double vapor barrier , and good insulation . leaving the temp set at 50 for 24/7 one month cost me 72 bucks . Sure glad I took the advice to put the system in and I'm glad I did . My next project in the shop it raise the ceiling now that the lift and floor are done ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by cboy

Great looking plan.

Things to think about:

1) I don't know if you are in a cold part of Texas or not. But if you are I would strongly consider putting in in-floor hydroponic heating. It's the biggest mistake I made in my shop - not having it. I'm on my feet a LOT in shop throughout the winter and it gets pretty brutal. The rest of the shop is at 60...but the floor is ice cold. But then, maybe you need A/C more than you need heat.

2) Just be aware, when you put running water and a bathroom in your shop it will most likely bump it into a different category for tax purposes AND for insurance purposes. Both will be more costly than just a plain old garage. At least that's the way it is here in WI.

3) Before you decide on a final ceiling/roof height, think long and hard about a lift and the design requirements for that particular lift...and the vehicles you will be lifting. Some require a 12' clearance to function properly.

The only thing I am concerned about is your choice of 8' wide doors. I guess it depends on the width of your cars, but I prefer a 9' minimum....but I know that might throw off the proportions of your style. I like 30's-40's style stations, and I'd be at a loss as to picking a garage door style.

Time for an update. I am finally getting going with this project. I am in the process of clearing the site and will be getting bids for the foundation and gas pump island starting next week. Got the permit from the city week before last and it was not a problem at all. I am also picking out windows and doors.
I was at a loss on the style of door for a while but have decided on these from Overhead Door. It's the Courtyard Collection door and they will be 9' wide and 8' high. They will use rails with a 20" radius that will get them up tight to the 10 foot ceiling but still be able to use standard type operators instead of the expensive side mount units.

Also, I think I have decided to go with the silver Galvalume roof. But, I will stick with the white siding and green trim.
I will use Hardieplank in 8 inch width for siding.
I already had a 400 amp main service panel put on the main house and it is set up to feed 100 amp service to the shop.

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